Learning Portuguese — frequently asked questions
39 questions people really ask when learning Portuguese, with answers that stand on their own. Where there is more to say, the link comes underneath — not instead of the answer.
Getting started
Where to begin, what is easy and what is not, and what the levels mean.
How do I start learning Portuguese?
With four things side by side rather than one after another: the two verbs that share the work of «to be», ser and estar; the present-tense endings of the three verb groups (-ar, -er, -ir); a first stock of everyday words; and listening to whole sentences and saying them back. That last one is not optional politeness. European Portuguese drops or blurs most unstressed vowels, so a word you have only ever read is a word you will not recognise when you hear it. Start with the ear on the first day and the gap never gets wide.
Is Portuguese hard for English speakers?
Easier than it looks in some places, harder in others. Easier: a large vocabulary that both languages took from Latin — a informação, possível, a universidade are recognisable on sight — and a word order that is mostly subject, verb, object, as in English. Harder: the verb, which has a separate ending for each person in each tense where English gets by with two or three forms; the gender of every noun, which articles and adjectives have to match; the subjunctive, which English keeps only in traces such as «if I were you»; and above all the sound of European Portuguese, which is the part most learners underestimate.
I already know some Spanish. Does that help?
For reading, a great deal: much of the vocabulary is shared, and the grammar runs along similar lines, so written Portuguese will often make sense to you from the start. For listening, much less — Spanish pronounces every vowel, European Portuguese swallows the unstressed ones, and the same word can be hard to recognise. The real risk is mixing the two: Spanish habits slip in unnoticed, such as el for the article instead of o, or «I have eaten» built with haver. Portuguese uses ter there, and its compound past means something else in any case (see Grammar below).
How long does it take to learn Portuguese?
There is no honest figure in hours, and any site that gives one as a fact has made it up: it depends on what you already know, how often you practise and what you need the language for. What can be said is where the time goes. Reading comes quickly to an English speaker, because so much of the educated vocabulary is shared. Listening lags behind for longer, and in European Portuguese it lags further than in most Romance languages. That gap is normal, and it closes with listening, not with more grammar.
What do A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 mean?
They are the six levels of a common European scale, from a first few sentences (A1) to effortless command of the language (C2). This site grades its own material against that scale in its own words, and says openly what the yardstick is: not how long or rare a word looks, but from what point you cannot get by without it. O pequeno-almoço is a long word and sits at A1, because everyone has breakfast.
How do I practise if I have nobody to speak to?
Out loud, and by ear. Several practice modes here are heard rather than read — a dictation and a listening exercise among them — and any card can be read aloud by your device, so you can repeat after it. That does not replace a conversation. It does mean your first conversation will not be the first time the language has been in your mouth, which is most of what makes a first conversation hard.
Portugal or Brazil
The first decision — and what it really costs you.
Should I learn European or Brazilian Portuguese?
Choose by where you will go and who you will talk to — nothing else, because it is one language. A Portuguese and a Brazilian understand each other without trouble. The differences lie mainly in the sound (Brazil pronounces its vowels fully, Portugal reduces the unstressed ones), in the forms of address, in where the object pronoun goes, in «I am working» (estou a trabalhar in Portugal, estou trabalhando in Brazil) and in a set of everyday words: o autocarro and o ônibus for the bus, o comboio and o trem for the train, o telemóvel and o celular for the mobile. This site teaches the Portuguese of Portugal throughout and says where Brazil differs noticeably.
Will I understand Brazilians if I learn European Portuguese?
Yes, and more easily than the other way round. Brazilian Portuguese pronounces its vowels fully, so a word sounds much as it is written — the easier direction for anyone who has learnt the words. A learner trained on Brazilian audio who arrives in Lisbon has the harder time, because syllables they expect are missing. Either way it evens out after a few weeks of listening to the other variety.
Is written Portuguese the same in Portugal and Brazil?
Very nearly, since both adopted the same spelling agreement, but not entirely. Some words keep a consonant in Portugal because it is pronounced there: o facto (the fact) in Portugal, o fato in Brazil — and in Portugal o fato is a suit. Some accents differ because the vowel does: António and económico in Portugal, Antônio and econômico in Brazil. The Portuguese on this site follows the agreement as it is applied in Portugal.
What is the difference between tu and você?
English lost this choice when «thou» went out of use; Portuguese keeps it, and Portugal and Brazil handle it differently. In Portugal tu is the ordinary word for «you» among friends, family, children and people your own age. Você exists, but addressing a stranger with it can sound blunt; the polite form is o senhor or a senhora, or simply the verb in the third person with no pronoun at all: Deseja mais alguma coisa?. In Brazil você has replaced tu in most regions. Grammatically tu has its own verb forms ending in -s (tu tens), while você takes those of «he» and «she» (você tem).
Grammar
The distinctions where Portuguese most often catches out an English speaker.
What is the difference between ser and estar?
Both translate «to be». Ser says what something is — identity, nationality, profession, a lasting quality, the time, what it is made of: sou inglês, é médica. Estar says how or where something is at the moment — mood, condition, a temporary place: estou cansado, estou em casa. The same adjective can shift with the verb: é nervoso describes a nervous person, está nervoso someone who is nervous right now. For where a building or a town is, Portugal usually reaches for a third verb, ficar: Onde fica a estação?
Why does «tenho falado» not mean «I have spoken»?
Because the Portuguese compound past looks exactly like the English present perfect — the present of «have» plus a past participle — and does a different job. Tenho falado com ele means «I have been talking to him (lately)»: something that started in the past, keeps recurring and is still going on. For a single finished event Portuguese uses the simple past, falei com ele. This is probably the most reliable mistake an English speaker makes in Portuguese, precisely because the shape looks so familiar.
How do I say «Have you eaten?» or «I have never been to Porto»?
With the simple past, where English uses the present perfect. Já comeste? — «have you eaten (yet)?». Nunca estive no Porto — «I have never been to Porto». Já viste este filme? — «have you seen this film?». The little word já («already», «yet», «ever») often carries the sense that English puts into «have». The rule of thumb: if the action is complete, Portuguese does not care whether it is recent or relevant now; it is past.
Which past tense: comi or comia?
The pretérito perfeito (comi) tells what happened: a completed event, even a long one, seen as a whole. The imperfeito (comia) describes how things were: a state, a habit, the background. English often shows the imperfect with «was …-ing» or «used to»: lia quando o telefone tocou is «I was reading when the phone rang», em criança jogava à bola «as a child I used to play football». Length alone does not decide it: vivi dois anos em Faro takes the perfeito, because the two years are over and counted as one block.
Can I say «estou a sair amanhã» for «I’m leaving tomorrow»?
No. English uses the -ing form for plans and arrangements; Portuguese does not. Estar a plus the infinitive is for what is in progress right now — estou a comer, «I am eating (at the moment)». For a plan, Portuguese uses the plain present or ir plus the infinitive: saio amanhã, vou sair amanhã. And even for the present, Portuguese reaches for estar a less often than English reaches for «-ing»: o que fazes? can perfectly well ask «what are you doing?».
Why do Portuguese speakers say «tenho fome» — «I have hunger»?
Because much of what English says with «to be» Portuguese says with ter, «to have». Tenho fome (I am hungry), tenho sede (thirsty), tenho frio (cold), tenho medo (afraid), tens razão (you are right), and the age: tenho trinta anos, never sou trinta. There is no deeper logic to learn here, only a set of pairs, and they are best learnt together as a group.
Why does «no» sometimes mean «in the»?
Because Portuguese fuses its commonest prepositions with the article that follows. Em (in, on, at) plus o gives no, plus a gives na: no carro (in the car), na praia (on the beach). In the same way de plus o is do (o carro do João), a plus o is ao, and por plus o is pelo. The fusion is not optional: em o carro is simply wrong. «No» in the English sense is não.
Why is there an article in «o meu carro» and «a Ana»?
Because European Portuguese puts the definite article in places English leaves empty. Before a possessive it is the norm: o meu carro, a minha irmã. Before a first name it is usual in everyday speech in Portugal: a Ana já chegou. Many place names take one too — o Porto, o Brasil — while others, such as Portugal and Lisboa, do not, and those are learnt one by one.
Why does the pronoun come after the verb, with a hyphen?
Because that is its normal place in European Portuguese: chamo-me Ana, ela viu-me, dá-me isso. It moves in front of the verb when certain words come earlier in the clause — a negative, a question word, que, or words such as já, nunca, também, alguém: ela não me viu, quem te disse?. Brazil puts the pronoun in front almost everywhere, so getting this wrong is rarely misunderstood — it just makes you sound Brazilian.
What is the future subjunctive, and why do I need it?
It is a verb form English never had, and Portuguese uses it every day: after quando, se and logo que when they point to the future. English says «when you arrive» with a present tense; Portuguese says quando chegares. Quando chegares, liga-me — «call me when you arrive». Se puderes, vem — «come if you can». For regular verbs it often looks just like the infinitive with a personal ending, which is why learners mistake it for one; for irregular verbs it is built on the stem of the simple past: puder, tiver, fizer.
What is the personal infinitive?
An infinitive with an ending that says who is doing it — a form very few languages have. Antes de saíres, fecha a janela — «before you leave, close the window». É importante estudarmos — «it is important for us to study». English needs a whole clause («before you leave») or «for us to»; Portuguese keeps the infinitive and adds -es, -mos or -em. You can get a long way without producing it, but you will meet it constantly.
When do I need the subjunctive?
When the main clause wants, doubts, fears, judges or denies something rather than stating it. The commonest trap for an English speaker is wanting someone else to do something: English says «I want you to come», with an infinitive, and Portuguese cannot — it says quero que venhas. The same goes for «I hope», «it is possible that», «before» and «unless»: espero que estejas bem, talvez chova.
Why «gosto de café» and not just «gosto café»?
Because gostar always takes de. Otherwise it works like the English «like» — the person who likes is the subject: gosto de café, gostas de viajar?. The de fuses with a following article as usual: gosto muito do teu casaco. Leaving it out is one of the first mistakes almost every learner makes, and one of the easiest to hear once you listen for it.
Is «não vi ninguém» a double negative?
Yes, and in Portuguese it is required. Where English switches to «anybody», «anything» or «ever» after «not», Portuguese keeps the negative word and puts não in front of the verb as well: não vi ninguém is «I didn’t see anybody», não quero nada «I don’t want anything». Nothing cancels out. If the negative word comes first, não is dropped: ninguém sabe, nunca vou lá.
Vocabulary
Which words come first, which ones you can guess, and which ones mislead.
How many Portuguese words do I need?
Fewer than you might fear for everyday conversation, and many more for newspapers and films. The more useful question is not how many but which ones first: a handful of verbs — ser, estar, ter, ir, fazer, ficar — turns up in almost every sentence, together with small words such as de, que and já. A word list sorted by how soon you will need each word gets you speaking long before a list sorted by topic does.
Can I guess Portuguese words from English?
Often, because both languages took much of their educated vocabulary from Latin. A few patterns do most of the work: «-tion» becomes -ção (a nação, a informação, plural as informações), «-ty» becomes -dade (a possibilidade, a universidade), «-ble» becomes -vel (possível, confortável), «-ly» becomes -mente (normalmente) and «-ous» becomes -oso (famoso, nervoso). The guessing stops at the everyday words English inherited from Old English — «dog», «house», «eat» are o cão, a casa, comer — and at the false friends.
Which Portuguese words are false friends for English speakers?
The one you meet first is on doors: puxe means «pull», and «push» is empurre. After that: constipado means «having a cold»; pretender means «to intend»; atualmente means «currently», not «actually» (that is na verdade); a livraria is a bookshop and a library is a biblioteca; os parentes are relatives, while parents are os pais; eventualmente means «possibly», not «in the end»; and esquisito means «odd», not «exquisite».
Why does every noun come with o or a?
Because every noun has a gender, and it belongs to the word the way its spelling does. The ending helps: most nouns in -o are masculine, most in -a feminine, and those in -ção, -dade and -agem are feminine (a viagem). But not all: o dia, o mapa and o problema are masculine, a mão and a foto feminine, and nouns in -e can be either (o leite, a noite). Gender here says nothing about meaning; it decides the article and every adjective. Learn each noun with its article — without it you know only half the word.
How do I remember vocabulary for good?
By meeting each word again at growing intervals rather than in one long session. A word you got right today comes back in a few days, then after longer; a word you got wrong comes back soon. This site works that out for you on the Leitner principle and keeps the record in your browser. More important than any method is learning a word in a sentence rather than as a pair in a table — a noun with its article, a verb with the preposition it takes: gostar de (to like), pensar em (to think about), precisar de (to need).
Pronunciation
Why spoken Portuguese sounds so unlike the way it looks.
Why does Portuguese sound so different from the way it is written?
Because European Portuguese reduces its unstressed vowels, often to almost nothing. Telefone is not «te-le-fo-ne» but something close to «tl-fon», and a final -e often disappears altogether. On top of that, an s at the end of a syllable is pronounced «sh» — as portas sounds like «ash portash» — or like the s in «measure» before a voiced consonant. Together these make a sentence that looks almost like Spanish on paper sound quite unlike it. It is not mumbling; it is the system, and once you know it you start hearing the words again.
How do I pronounce ão, lh and nh?
Ão, as in não and pão, is a nasal sound: an «ow» said with air flowing through the nose as well as the mouth, and with no n or m at the end. The same happens to a vowel before m or n at the end of a syllable: in bom and sim the consonant is not pronounced as such, it nasalises the vowel. Nh sounds much like the «ny» in «canyon» (o vinho), and lh much like the «lli» in «million» (o filho, o trabalho).
What is the difference between avô and avó?
A single vowel, and it decides whom you are talking about: avô, with a closed o, is your grandfather, avó, with an open o, your grandmother. Portuguese has an open and a closed o and an open and a closed e, and both pairs tell words apart. The accents show which is meant where the normal stress rule would not: the circumflex marks the closed vowel, the acute the open one. The difference is easy to miss at first and becomes audible with practice.
How do I pronounce the Portuguese r?
There are two, and they tell words apart: caro is «expensive», carro is «car». The single r between vowels is one quick tap of the tongue, like the t in the American pronunciation of «better». The double rr, and an r at the start of a word, is in Lisbon and much of Portugal made at the back of the throat, not unlike a French r; some speakers roll it with the tip of the tongue instead. Neither is the English r, and substituting the English one is what makes caro and carro hard to tell apart.
Where does the stress fall in a Portuguese word?
There is a rule, and the accents mark the exceptions. Most words ending in a, e or o (with or without s) or in -am or -em are stressed on the second-to-last syllable: casa, falam. Words ending in r, l, z, i, u or a nasal vowel are stressed on the last: falar, papel, irmã. A written accent overrides the rule: café, médico, fácil. The stress matters more than in English, because in European Portuguese it also decides which vowels are pronounced fully and which are reduced.
This site
What it costs, what it stores, and what it is not.
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In the browser on your own device, and nowhere else. There is no account and no server that records what you practise. That has a price, and it is stated here rather than hidden: if you switch browsers or clear the site’s data, you start again from the beginning. That is why you can save your record as a file and load it again, on the same device or another.
Where does the material on this site come from?
It was written for this site. The word lists, example sentences, reading texts, exercises and explanations are its own work; no frequency list, sentence collection or textbook has been taken from anywhere else — a compiled collection is protected as a collection even when the single words in it belong to nobody. The Portuguese examples are shared with the site’s other editions; the explanations on these pages are written for English speakers, not translated.
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Yes. Pages you have opened stay on your device, and the practice page has a button that stores the rest in one go, after which you can keep practising without a connection. Reading aloud may not work offline on every device, because some browsers fetch their voices from the internet.